"O God, I could be bounded in a nut shell and count myself
a king of infinite space,
were it not that I have bad dreams."
- Hamlet
Act II scene ii

25 December 2007

Yuletide

As I grow older, I feel increasingly certain that there are more fundamental forces at large than those promoted by organised religions - no matter what the brand names - Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism - they're all the same to me - utter poppycock! Here at "Christmas" in the northern hemisphere, we feast to celebrate the passing of the darkest day and the prospect of a new year dawning. The holly, ivy and mistletoe remind us the Earth's fertility and Santa Claus is but a caricature of the legendary Green Man who - metaphorically speaking - watches over us and annually brings us his precious gifts - the fruit and the grain, the sunshine and the leafy forest, the pastures and the berries, the beasts of earth and water and the birds of the air. We will eat, drink and be merry, glad to be alive as passengers we have known and love disembark from this ship that is the vessel upon which we voyage through time.

To learn more of the pagan view of "Christmas", click on the Victorian Yuletide picture below - it will take you to an old BBC article about pagan Christmases. Happy Yuletide everyone! And let's hope we are all around to celebrate next December, grateful for the gifts of life and health and the precious bounty of our homes, our families and our friends.

I am contacting you because I am working with the authors of a book about blogs, and I'd like to request permission to use a photograph of yours in this book. Please contact me at matt@wefeelfine.org, and I'd be happy to give you more information about the project. Please paste a link to your blog in the subject field. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.